The aircraft and crews:

Piper Cherokee PA28  G-AWTL – Steve M & Steve R (Alex as Passenger)

Cessna C172  G BXXK – Rob & Shane (Nick & Chris as passengers)

Cessna C150 G-BCDY – Jane & Richard (Grim Reaper as passenger)

The planned route:

Andrewsfield – North Weald – Lydd – Stapleford – Andrewsfield.

The weather forecast was not good but all turned up at 09:00, optimistic as ever.  A telephone call to Lydd ATC confirmed snow and blizzard conditions.  It was decided to stay local and take the short hop to North Weald and plan possible routes from there.

The pairings saw Richard (along on his first trip with Heelan’s Flying Circus) flying with Jane.

The Cessna 172 (piloted by Rob) lined up on 27R and took off, closely followed by the Cherokee.  The Cherokee being faster than the C172, quickly caught up and the two aircraft flew in loose formation towards North Weald, dodging snow showers.

Soon North Weald came into sight and both aircraft joined the circuit; The Cherokee joining down wind and the C172 joining base!!  The wind was fairly strong and the control inputs increased, to keep the Cherokee stable on the down wind and finals.  Steve R reminded Steve M to avoid the trees on the high ground.  A similar conversation was taking place in the Cessna 172 but with a slight twist, as Rob exclaimed “ the trees are obscuring my view of the runway ”  Shane’s comments were not recorded.

In no time at all the C172 and Cherokee were down and taxied to the Squadron.  By the time the engines were shut down, Richard and Jane had arrived, we all looked at Richard carefully for any signs of anxiety but he seemed o.k. – so far so good – he just might make it!

We signed in at the Squadron paid our landing fees and signed the petition to keep the airfield open and then moved on to the cafeteria.

Like many pilots, proud of achieving their PPL’s, we count ourselves as intelligent individuals and like many pilots cannot count the number of teas/coffees ordered versus teas/coffees required.  Chris took control and matched up pilots to beverages, then sneakily ordered himself a cooked breakfast.  It has been noted on other fly outs that Chris eats well and also performs more weight and balance calculations than the rest of us. Chris says this is for practice but we think differently!

Jane had contacted the pilot of a Pitts Special (based near Luton) through Flyer Forum and he flew in to meet up with us and go on to Lydd.  Both the Pitts Pilot and Steve M were wearing A2 flying Jackets and white silk scarves (must ring around the crews in the morning and coordinate apparel).  Steve’s excuse was that it was a cold day and ignored comments about the Cherokee having cabin heat.

The weather did not improve and a second telephone call to Lydd ATC brought about the decision to return to Andrewsfield.  Steve R flew the Cherokee home closely followed by Shane in the Cessna 172 and Richard in the Cessna 152.  The Pitts Special overtook the Cessna 172 in the climb out, passing in front of it before turning towards its home base.

Although the fly out was curtailed, the main reason for choosing North Weald was to support the threatened airfield and allow some of the crew the opportunity to visit a historic WWII aerodrome, which may not be around much longer.

On a lighter note, Richard, none the worse for his first trip continues to fly with the flying Circus.

Welcome Richard.

[Text: Steve M]

The day started as usual with the weather being quite an issue.  There had been a light sprinkling of snow/heavy frost over night and the forecast was for snow showers coming up from the southwest!  The original plan, I think was to visit North Weald, Lydd, Stapleford and back to Andrewsfield.  After much consideration and looking skyward we decided that the full trip looked very unlikely indeed and if we didn’t get a move on soon then we might not have even made it to North Weald!

A quick fuel up and de-ice and we, I think three planes – XK, TL, DY, were airborne and trying to head southish for North Weald.  XK was off first quickly followed by TL in formation.  DY was a little further behind, possibly due to the greater detail in which the pilot likes to plan things – was that you Jane?!  After a climb out on 09, looking to the north you could have been mistaken for thinking it was a summers’ morning, beautiful sun and excellent viz.  Certainly no snow clouds!  However a glance out the right, south, gave a slightly different perspective!  A bank of low cloud depositing fluffy white blobs on the Essex countryside!  Hmmm…..  By now we had gone round the north of Braintree and were thinking we really must assume a more accurate heading for North Weald!  A gap was spotted between two of the clouds and we were off, XK leading with TL swerving all over its tail, no room to overtake or sneak past!  ……………………. We got through and eventually spotted North Weald on the nose, LH circuit – oops – that’s North Weald to the right and Stapleford is now on the nose.  Hmmmmm…….    As TL explained later, that’s why they left the formation with XK and headed off for what turned out to be a LH circuit downwind join!  I think XK sneaked onto final just in front of TL after a nifty bit of circuit procedure.  All was well until a glider was sighted parked on the end of the runway, roughly where we were hoping to put XK down.  Thus a go around was employed, skimming the tree tops and maybe the gliders tail too – not sure as my eyes were shut!  I do remember hearing, ‘the trees are obscuring my view of the runway’!  By this time DY had joined the circuit and I think we all got down, TL first, DY then XK.  Once out the planes teas and coffees were ordered and Chris had his obligatory breakfast!  Dear Jane had invited one of her newly acquired chums from a website forum she obviously spends far too long on.  He arrived in his Pitts, a rather swish looking blue machine, which as we would later find out could go fairly quickly!  Jane soon confessed to only inviting him along because she wanted a ride in his flying machine!

After a quick defrost in the very accommodating café and having signed the petition to help save North Weald our thoughts turned to the weather again.  Our leader, Mr M, called Lydd to check the weather and was told something along the lines of, ‘we can’t see the runway for the blizzard!’.  Ok, we’ll see you another day!  So a call somewhere half way - Rochester.  Their response was similar, ‘just had a blizzard and are expecting another about now!’  A glance outside confirmed the worst, bad to the south approx the M25 area, still very clear and sunny to the north, Andrewsfield’s direction – a quick call back home soon confirmed they were revelling in sunshine.  So we decided to cut our losses and head for home.

On climb out from North Weald a certain blue plane zoomed past XK – 4 up - at a rate of knots that can only be described as vast – it did wake our captain up, which on refection I suppose was handy!  A very uneventful trip back to Andrewsfield ensued.  A bit of a cross wind landing – all taken in the circus’s strides!

On reflection an enjoyable couple of hours away form Andrewsfield at a new airfield – and we signed their petition!

[Text: Nick]